Welcome back to college football, Bobby Petrino. We’ve waited all of eight months for your return.

Western Kentucky did Monday what four SEC programs wouldn’t—or in the minds of many college administrators, couldn’t—when it hired the defrocked Petrino as head coach.

The man who blew a multimillion-dollar coaching job in the SEC at Arkansas with an affair (and the cover-up of an affair), is now serving time in the Sun Belt Conference. Which, of course, is better than the alternative of not working at all.

It’s also a long way from the elite of the sport, where four SEC schools had openings and none chose to hire the game’s best offensive mind. For a while, it looked like Petrino’s best option would be joining his brother—new Idaho coach Paul Petrino—in the outpost of college football.

One SEC administrator said this of Petrino: “How do you sell it to your fan base, your loyal donors? A tough thing, but if you can, you take the hit for a few months, things cool down—and you’ve got a guy that can really coach. Of course, you have to hope it doesn’t happen again.”

“It” being the key factor.

First there was Jetgate, when Petrino interviewed for the Auburn job in the early 2000s while Tommy Tuberville was still employed by the Tigers.

Then there was Petrino leaving Louisville for the NFL after publicly declaring his love for Louisville (and after a big raise) and all things Cardinals. Then there was Petrino leaving the Atlanta Falcons before the end of his first season to take the Arkansas job.

Malcolm Forbes once said “You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”

Now look how Petrino treats everyone who actually do things for him.

If you’re WKU, there really is no risk. Petrino will be gone for a bigger job before he can do something else to embarrass himself or the university. If he lasts more than one season at WKU, it will be the most shocking upset of his career.

In one year, after Petrino takes a talented WKU team and wins the first two games of the season against—wait for it—Kentucky and Tennessee; after his team wins the Sun Belt and is in the BCS discussion as a non-AQ team threatening to play in a big boy bowl game, he’ll be welcomed back to the BCS ranks by a desperate program in search of the right coach.

He’ll be another 12 months removed from yet another self-inflicted wound. He’ll be a changed man after another tear-jerker from the GameDay gang, and he’ll be rested and rarin’ to go.